Betrayal Unfolded
by promisenothing
Summary: Five years after fleeing her abusive step-father, Rose Hathaway and bestfriend, Lissa, find themselves caught up in illegal activities. Agent Dimitri Belikov is sent to uncover the secrets of the so-called ruthless killer. AU/AH/OOC.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: The characters of the Vampire Academy belong to Richelle Mead. No copyright infringement intended. **

_Full summary: Rose left to escape her abusive step-father. Lissa left to escape the grief of losing her parents and brother in a car accident. Five years later, the girls are caught up in illegal activities, mainly theft and a fighting ring, Buria, in order to survive. Agent Dimitri Belikov goes undercover to reveal the secrets of Rose, as the agency believes her to be a ruthless killer. _

_(Later chapters will be longer)_

Mia Rinaldi clung to the concrete slab that held her body upright, barely noticing the dampness that had crept through the threadbare shirt that hung loosely on her beaten body. Nightfall had hid nearby buildings from her sight, impeding her chance to flee, until angry flames rose into the colourless sky; illuminating all that had been hidden.

_Blood. _

_Terror._

_Betrayal unfolded. _

Her eyes shut tightly at the sudden intensity of light, before she heard the soft pleas of a girl – pleas of forgiveness. She caught glimpse of her, beauty amid fiery chaos, knelt on the concrete floor beside a lifeless body, clutching a gleam of metal in her hand. "I'm sorry, Mase" she said, "I'm so sorry." The delicate brunette let go of the metal rod, it hit the concrete as she cradled his limp body in her lap, smoothing his red hair. Mia had never seen her look so fragile and unable. The girl that had the toughest recoil in fear, looked, for the first time, fearful. Mia felt her body ready to let go, to fall to the ground and descend into nothingness, but the emptiness in her friend's eyes lured her closer until her legs couldn't hold her up any longer and she fell to the ground, beside Rose.

"They sent us here to be killed," Rose said, her voice trembled in anger. Hands, like hers, covered in blood, clutched the metal rod beside her. "_Natalie_ sent us here to be killed."

"Is she-,"

"Dead," Rose said, "Natalie is dead."


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: the characters of the Vampire Academy belong to Richelle Mead. No copyright infringement intended. **

CHAPTER ONE! It's about time, right? ;)

**A/N:** I really wanted to wait until I had a longer chapter to upload but I'm stuck with a case of writer's block right now, and I figured you lovely people have waited long enough for an update. So, here is chapter one! You'll meet Dimitri in the next chapter!

Thank you for your reviews, follows and favs! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"_Rose, you need to get out of here." _

"_Mason–," _

"_No," he said and she felt the rough skin of his hand on her face; the calluses on his palms bared the marks of his hard life. He brought her face closer to his so she could hear him in the midst of the chaos around them. "You need to run, Rose. You run hard, you run fast and you do not look back." _

_She reached up and clutched his forearms, her eyes clouded in rage. "I'm not going to run," she said as she shook her head. "I'm not taking one step out of here if you're not by my side." _

"_You need to," he looked at the other girl that slumped on the concrete floor beside them, "Mia got hurt real bad. She needs help and you're the only one that can get her to Sonya." _

"_But, Mason, if I go now –,"_

"_Shit," he said as he looked past her shoulder. She made to look back but he held her face, blue eyes pleading. "They're here. Please, Rose, please, get out of here."_

"_Mason–,"_

_He brushed his lips on her forehead, so softly that she barely felt it, then he got up, gun to his chest as he shouted. "Now, Rose!" then shots fired. _

"_Rose!" _

_She could hear him; the courage of his tone, in his eyes. She could still hear him. _

"_Rose!" _

_It got louder and she felt someone clutch her arm. "Rose," she heard, but now it wasn't him. "Wake up, Rose." _

Lissa.

She jerked up and met her best friend's scared jade eyes. She swung her legs off the bed and reached for the gun she kept under her bed. "What is it?" she said as she looked around the room. "What's wrong? Are you okay, Lis?"

Lissa clutched her robe closer to her chest. "I think someone is out on the balcony," she pointed a slender finger to the lounge room. "I think someone is trying to break into the apartment!"

Rose glanced at her bedroom door then to her friend. She held her gun out as she toed closer to the door. "Stay in here, okay?"

Lissa stood near the bed. "Be careful, Rose," she heard her friend say just before she turned the corner.

The curtains were closed, but the street lights still shun through the thin cloth and Rose could see the outline of a tall man as he bent at the waist and tampered with the handle of the balcony door. She crept closer, light of her toes, and held the gun in front of her. She'd shoot if she had to – if it meant to protect her best friend, she wouldn't hesitate.

It was clear the man could not pick a lock, so she thought there was a good chance he was an amateur; probably a junkie stealing to pay for his habits. But they stayed on the third floor of the apartment block. Why would he go to so much trouble to climb the pipes and break into _their_ apartment and not the floors below them?

She came to a stop just beside the door and clutched the side of the curtain. She peaked through the gap between the door and the curtain and saw long, slender hands holding a screwdriver and rattling the door handle. If anything, it looked as though he secured the lock more than he did to loosen it. In any other time, she'd probably laugh, and maybe then teach him some things about picking a lock. First lesson, don't use a fucking screwdriver.

She counted to three then pulled the curtain back and just as fast unlocked the door and slid it open. She clocked her gun and pointed it at the man whose face was hidden in the shadows that were casted over him. "Who the fuck-," her brows pulled together as she stared at familiar golden eyes; eyes that were wide in fear. Her own eyes adjusted to the darkness outside and she swore.

"Jesse," she said, "if you don't have a good reason for breaking into my apartment at three in the fucking morning, I _will _shot you."

He held his hands up; the screwdriver fell by his feet. "I-I," he faltered as his face turned pale white and he backed up against the metal railing. "Ange-,"

"I told you to come in through _my _window, not through the balcony door!" Her other housemate, Angeline, stood by the door, hands on her hips.

Jesse stared at her. "There are no pipes leading up to your window. I'm not Spiderman, Angeline!"

Angeline did not look happy. She held her hands out. "There are ledges on each floor," she told him.

"But they're at least a feet apart," he still had his hands up, "I can't stretch that long of ways!"

"I know guys that could do it," she said with a shrug.

"Yeah, well-,"

"Look," Rose interrupted. She still had her arm outstretched and her finger on the trigger. "As amusing as this all is, I'm tired." She turned her head to look at Angeline. "If your fucking boyfriend tries to break into our apartment again," she glanced back at the tall boy with the gold hair as he trembled under her stare, "I'll shot his fucking balls and hang it on your door, got it?"

Angeline snorted. "He is not _my_ boyfriend."

Lissa craned her head out of the room. When she realised what was happening she crept out and turned on the lights. "Jesse," she said. "What are you doing out there?"

"I was," his hands fell to his side and he looked at Rose. "Can you please put the gun down now? It's making me uneasy."

Rose chuckled. "Well, if _this_ makes you uneasy, you should see what I do to people that actually make it inside my apartment without knocking on the damn door."

She tucked the gun into her pants and walked back into her apartment, staring Angeline down as she went past. "Jesse," she asked, "_really_, Angeline?"

"Hey," Jesse whined as he strode in behind her and shut the door that he was trying to unlock just moments before. "What is _that _supposed to mean?"

Angeline tackled him in a long, loud kiss. Rose almost pulled out her gun again.

"Why_ didn't_ you use the front door?" Lissa asked.

Angeline broke away from Jesse but he kept his hands on her waist and bit her lightly on the throat. She rolled her eyes. "Stan doesn't like us with male company before fight night," she said. "He said its Buria rules, but I think he's lying."

Buria is the fight club where Rose earned most of her income. Granted, it was illegal work, but where else could she earn money? She was a high-school dropout with a criminal history and almost no qualifications except for her strong fighting skills that she had learnt from her time out on the streets. It only made sense to put her only skill to work. Stan, their trainer at Buria, thought his girls fought tougher with all that pent-up frustration on their belt. Rose thought that was ridiculous, but Stan was an interesting character. If he hadn't been there to help get Rose into the club, or find them a decent apartment in a new city, they'd probably still be stuck out on the streets with Joe Wild – a loopy, college dropout that got them here in the first place.

"With good reason, apparently," Rose mumbled. She picked up a cushion from the couch and threw it at Jesse. "Would you stop," she shouted.

Angeline took his hand and pulled him into her room. She shouted out a, "later!" before the door shut closed.

Lisas chuckled. "Well," she said, "at least we're not all stuck in a dry spell."

Rose groaned and pulled at her hair. "She is too much." Angeline had only recently moved in with them, under Stan's orders to help her get used to city life. She was the new fighter to the club, but lacked any discipline or structure. She had already found herself in trouble with the cops – twice – and helped herself to the clothes in Rose's closet that were almost too small on her taller frame. Rose made note to steal back the crop top that Angeline had on, and wash it before it touched her body again.

"I'm sorry I woke you up," Lissa said.

"No," Rose held her hand up. "I'm glad you did. I'd rather you wake me up than to go about confronting a would-be intruder."

Lissa threw her head back and laughed. "Right, as if I would."

Rose chuckled at the thought, too. Her friend was far too kind and timid to confront anyone. But that's what she adored about her; she was all that Rose wasn't, all that Rose _couldn't_ be.

Rose yawned. "I need sleep," she said as she made to go back to her room but Lissa clutched her forearm and pulled her back. She looked up at her best friend and saw the concern that clouded her eyes. She shook her head. "Please," she pleaded, "not now."

Lissa let go of her arm and sighed. "You were calling out his name again, Rose."

"It was just a dream, Lis," she told her, "I'm fine."

"You're not fine," Lissa said. "Rose," she sighed. "You did all that you could, you know. You did what he told you to do."

But Rose did not believe that, not one bit. She did not believe that she did all she could, because if she had, he'd still be here.


End file.
